If you change your address, wish to resign or change your status, please notify the Botanical Society Head Office on (021) 797-2090. To receive this newsletter via e-mail (and save the Branch the costs of printing, packaging and postage) send your address to kogelbergbotsoc@gmail.com . read more
The editor reserves the right to edit contributions. Deadline for the next newsletter is around 20 March 2017. Please address all mail to: Kogelberg Branch of the Botanical Society, PO Box 85, Betty’s Bay 7141 Editor’s e-mail: kogelbergbotsoc@gmail.com read more
We were delighted to get this note of thanks from Colleen Rust, SANBI Senior Administration Officer at the Hantam National Botanical Garden in Niewoudtville, in response to our Branch's book donation. We understand the Garden’s library is the old sitting room of Neil and Neva McGregor’s house, a good place for our books. Dear Merrilee I would like to thank you all at the Kogelberg BotSoc Branch on behalf of the Hantam NBG for your very generous donation of The Illustrated Dictionary of Southern African Plant Names. We are very excited about being able to add… read more
-Chris Geldenhuys With the memory of the recent fire disaster fresh in our minds, the Pringle Bay Hack Group gathered at Droster’s Gat on 26 February. Fully motivated and inspired, they moved to the entrance of Pringle Bay where they cleared the verges along Buffels Road up to the Ursula Road intersection. The infestation was mainly Flowering Gum and Rooikrans, which are a serious threat to the Fynbos. The hackers were faced with some senior Flowering Gum trees (see the before and after photos). This was not a mere Sunday hack, it was heavy work,… read more
Over the past month, the Wednesday group has hacked at the WWF property at the top of Stream Road, Pringle Bay. This property is now clean as far as the house, the verges of Stream Road and the south-western verges of Porter Drive (all Rooikrans). Frik Potgieter, hack convenor, may be contacted at frikjanp@gmail.com or on 084 600 9891. read more
The path up Bobbejaanskop in the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden, sometimes called ‘the zig-zag path’, is often mentioned with a fearful quaver in the voice, induced by the prospect of a relentlessly steepening gradient and increasing exposure to height. But the dozen or so members and guests who tackled it showed that it’s eminently do-able if you take it slow, check out the flowers instead of the height and stop at the top bench for tea and self-congratulation. The view from the bench isn’t half bad either. The object of these heroics was Nivenia… read more
Over the two weeks in February, the Wednesday Hack committed to the fight against the ever present Australian Myrtle. It is growing in-between the R44 verge and the plot community towards the mountain. Most of the growth is already more than two metres high. The plot owner is of the opinion that it is the authorities’ responsibility and the authorities think it is the owner’s duty to fight these aliens. In the process nothing has been done and the aliens are now growing out of control. So the Wednesday Hack intervened! See the photos showing… read more
Saturday 18 March: Dr Gary Stafford, of Stellenbosch University, will speak on the use of plants in African traditional medicine. At 18h00 – Nivenia Hall, HPBG. Dr Gary Stafford has researched African traditional medicine since 002. As an ethnobotanist his main research interests have been on the utilisation, production and development of plants used in traditional medicine in South Africa. He is also interested in policy development, chemotaxonomy, chemical ecology, plant systematics and evolution. Currently he is a NRF Scarce Skills Postdoctoral Fellow at the Stellenbosch University, working on collaborative projects with traditional healers on the development and… read more
-Frik Potgieter, Convenor We did not bring as many friends as on the last hack, but the attendance was again excellent. Thank you to all who attended. The weather was kind and the troops motivated, so a huge number of the enemy succumbed to its wounds. There are only some isolated spots of Rooikrans left on Porter Drive, but these will be left for a later date. Jane Fearnhead provided the sandwiches and Merran Silberbauer the tea. Thank you ladies! Also thank you to Penguin Place for donating the bread for aforesaid sandwiches. Those attending… read more
